The desi pressure to buy a house
It’s conventional wisdom in the U.S., especially among Indian Americans, to buy a house as soon as one can afford it and as big as one can afford it. And it’s not without reasons. Buying an independent home is considered a good investment given how fast its value could appreciate. Also, buying a house, especially a big one, is a status symbol, the American Dream come to fruition. There is a lot of peer pressure, or should I say FOMO, to buy a single-family home, especially when one sees friends and family members buying theirs. Also, many opt for larger houses when their family grows and they feel the need for more space for play areas, studies, and individual bedrooms for each child. And with children come more parties, gatherings, and family reunions, which need more space.
I have always been skeptical about buying a house. I always enjoyed living in an apartment or a condominium with good amenities such as security and recreational facilities. More importantly, there is no yard work involved, and the owner of the property or condominium associations take care of the maintenance. This way I could devote more of my leisure time to doing things that I enjoyed, like reading, writing, listening to music, and watching news, documentaries, and movies on TV. I get bored to tears at parties listening to my friends talking about their yard work, gardening, and maintenance projects.
Oh, that pesky yardwork!
I came to the U.S. as a graduate student in 1968, got married in 1970, and had a daughter in 1975. We continued to live in apartments until I bought my first house in 1978 in a suburb of Akron, Ohio because my mother insisted that we do so. It worked out fine until my company sent me on a three-month assignment to Honolulu, Hawaii. I loved the warm winter weather of Hawaii, a stark contrast to the biting cold of an Ohio winter; but I badly missed my wife and daughter. With me gone, my wife had to seek help from neighbors to maintain our yard. This made me regret that I had bought a house. I promised myself right then that I would go back to living in either an apartment or a condominium.
I got a chance to correct my mistake when my company asked me to move to Honolulu for the long term. But I didn’t want to move that far because, at the time, my siblings and family lived in the Northeast, Southeast, and Midwest. So I took a job in Michigan and lived in an apartment for a year.
Happily ever after in a condo
As soon as my house in Ohio was sold, we moved to a four-bedroom condominium with our five-year-old daughter and a son who was just a few months old.
We lived there happily till we moved to California in 2014 to live in a two-bedroom condominium; our home is close to where my son and my daughter and her family live. Our condominium complex has excellent amenities in terms of a party room, fitness center, swimming pool, tennis court, basketball court, and picnic area.
I have company
I know I am not alone in my preference for a condominium over a single-family home. As I researched apartments versus houses, I found several advantages that support my thesis (links below). Here are a few:
- Easy Maintenance
- Cost Savings
- Enhanced Safety
- Superb Amenities
- Time for Yourself
- Short-Term Flexibility
- Thriving Communities
- Boost Your Savings
- Minimal Yard Work
- No Property Taxes
- Freedom from Mortgage Debt
- No Down Payment
- Lower Utility Expenses
- No Worries About Property Depreciation
- Affordable Renters Insurance
- Proximity to Shopping Centers
Not convinced? Here’s more!
- 8 Reasons Why You Should Choose an Apartment Over a House
- Srsly — Why apartment living can actually be better than moving into a house
- Why Renting an Apartment is Better than Owning a Home
- 10 Reasons Why Renting Could Be Better Than Buying
- 10 Benefits Of Living In An Apartment
Photo by Paul Szewczyk on Unsplash
